Storybrook Medical
by not-the-saviour
Summary: Storybrook Medical possesses some of the finest doctors of the East Side among them are Dr. Emma Swan and Dr. Regina Mills. Emma Swan is a struggling intern while Regina Mills is one of the best Cardio Surgeons on the country. Will the distant Dr. Mills warm up to the charming intern? Will Emma see Dr. Mills as anything more than a potential mentor?
1. Chapter 1

Emma Swan was having what could be described as the worst morning in the history of mankind. That was probably a little overdramatic if she were being honest, but still her day could use some improvement.

First, she was late for her shift, which meant getting reamed by her senior resident, Dr. French, who looked like a very sweet person but had a mean streak in her. Her case wasn't helped by the fact that she still smelled like stale beer and had a particular marking on her neck that oddly resembled a hickey.

Second thing that happened to her that morning, she was put on Dr. Mills's service. Which meant that her day would be spent being a slave to the Cardio God and getting little to no OR time. The inter exam was right around the corner and she needed to up her game.

The third thing that made her morning horrible was happening right now. Emma was running down the big sterile hallway to answer a 911 page.

"What the hell happened?" Emma asked the nurse who was currently doing CPR to Emma's patient.

"I came to take his vitals and he started coding." Nurse Perez answered.

"He's going into cardiac arrest." Emma said as she took over the compressions. "Book an OR and page Dr. Mills now." As she was doing compressions to the guy's chest, she kept saying a small prayer in her mind. Rob just turned eighteen this month and was starting college next fall, he came in because he had an asthma attack and now he was slipping right under Emma's fingers.

Emma knew what this was. Rob most likely had a coronary artery defect that went undiagnosed. If they acted quickly, they had a shot at saving him.

"What do we have here?" Dr. Mills asked as she finished getting scrubbed into surgery.

"Coronary artery defect, I managed to bring him back but you need to get in here right now." Emma said with an authority that surprised both Emma herself and Dr. Mills.

"Who made the diagnosis?" Dr. Mills asked as she stepped in and began to open up the patient.

"I did, Dr. Mills." Emma answered confidently.

"How confident?" Dr. Mills asked.

"Very." Emma said without any hesitation.

Dr. Mills only managed a small nod of agreement before her only focus was to save the patient on her table. Emma realized that watching Dr. Regina Mills operate was on par with watching Matisse paint. She was precise and confident with every cut and every suture never second guessing herself. It was clear to anyone watching that Dr. Mills was in her element and knew what she was doing.

The Cardio God was an excellent surgeon that much was clear, however she wasn't the greatest teacher. She mainly focused on getting the job done mostly forgetting that she was supposed to teach the intern standing across her table. If it wasn't for Emma constantly badgering her with questions, Regina wouldn't utter a word that wasn't a command or an instruction.

"Suction." Regina ordered. She briefly took her eyes of the open heart in her hands to look at Emma. "Think you can manage this next suture?"

"Yes, ma'am" Emma said smiling under her mask.

"Very well, don't screw it up, doctor." Regina said.

* * *

While Emma was trying her best to assist in saving Rob, her fellow interns were watching the surgery from the gallery.

"I can't believe the Evil Queen let her scrub in." said Dr. Neal Cassidy, his words laced with envy.

Neal was an okay student, what he lacked in talent he made up for with his ingenuity. No one knew how he got into the program, he didn't come from an Ivy League school like most of them did, his letters of recommendation were sub par as was his skill in the OR.

"How long do you think it'll be before she screws up?" Dr. Killian Jones asked. "Five bucks say she's going to rip out that suture."

Killian, according to most attendings was fairly talented but according to most of the female nurse staff he was a slime ball.

"That's one of our own down there. You could be a bit more supportive." Dr. Ruby Lucas said.

There are many things that could be said about Ruby, her flirty nature often rub some people the wrong way but unlike Neal Cassidy, she got into the program on merit alone. Both her GPA and her recommendation letters were stellar and so far she hadn't pissed any of her attendings.

"Look at her go." Dr. Mulan Wu commented. "Yesterday Lucas scrubbed in with the Wicked Witch and I scrubbed in with Snow White. Today is Swan with the Evil Queen. When are you guys getting on our level?" she said before getting a high five from Ruby.

Mulan was competitive to say the least. Her father had been the Chief of Surgery before he had a stoke in the middle of a surgery. Mulan had an incredible drive and the pressure to live up to her father's legacy.

"Shut up." Killian said as he stood up to leave.

"Where are you going? You're going to miss the surgery." Neal said.

"I'm going to find me a surgery." Killian said over his shoulder. "But you're welcome to stay and watch Swan kick your ass, princess."

* * *

After closing up the patient Emma was on a high. She really couldn't believe her luck. A few hours ago she was complaining about having to come to work hung over and being placed with the most feared attending. But now not only had she managed to save a young man's life but she did so with Dr. Regina Mills, who's probably the best cardio surgeon this side of the globe.

Emma was scrubbing out of surgery next to Regina, as the two shared a somewhat comfortable silence Emma couldn't help sneaking in a glance. She arrived to the conclusion that every little thing Regina Mills did was fascinating and she could spend hours on end just watching her go about her day.

"You're not completely incompetent." Regina said without looking at Emma.

"Thank you, Dr. Mills." Emma said suddenly flustered like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"I'll expect you for rounds tomorrow morning, Dr. Swan. Don't be late." Regina said taking a good look at Emma as if sizing her up. "And please cover up that bruise on your neck. It's really unbecoming."

Without another word Regina left the scrub room leaving a stunned Emma behind her. Emma slowly lifted a hand to touch her neck as if suddenly remembering the bruise that was a souvenir from one of the many temporary lovers that she left behind.

* * *

Emma was finishing up her charts for the day, still buzzing from the day's events. Moments like the ones she experienced in that OR are what make all the sleepless nights and agonizing ours of studying worth it. She knew that the high she felt when she was cutting someone open would be something she was going to chase after all of her life.

"Hi, Rock Star." Ruby said as she slid her chart next to Emma's. "We all saw you kick ass in the OR today."

"It was amazing, Rubes." Emma said beaming. "We're having a pretty good week you and I, huh?"

"Those Mills sisters are truly something else." Ruby said. "I don't know which one is more talented."

"Regina." Emma said appalled that someone was putting that fact in question.

"I don't know…" Ruby said. "Zelena is pretty good at what she does."

"She's captain of the gyno squad, that's not as impressive as being the head of cardio surgery." Emma said.

"You're a snob, Swan." Ruby accused playfully. "You should try to get on Blanchard's service tomorrow, I'm on her service and I bet she'll totally let us scrub in the liver transplant she's doing on a five year old tomorrow."

"Can't." Emma said closing the last of her charts. "I'm with Mills again tomorrow."

"Yikes, you must have really pissed off French." Ruby said signing the last of her charts.

"No, Regina requested me herself." Emma said with a shrug. "Plus she not as Evil as we first thought she was. Sure I have to do all of her charts and sometimes she pages me just so I can go fetch her some coffee but I got to operate today because of her."

"I guess I'll wave at you when you sit on the gallery to watch me scrub in a liver transplant." Ruby said smugly. "I'm glad you had a good day today, Ems. You made a really nice save."

"Thanks Ruby, I guess tomorrow its my turn to root for you from the sidelines." Emma said genuinely excited for her friends turn at the bat. "You're gonna kick ass."

"You know it." Ruby said with a flirty wink that caused Emma to chuckle.

* * *

"You're still here?" Dr. Zelena Mills asked when she entered the attendings lounge and saw that the sister she thought home hours ago was still in the hospital.

"I wanted to check on a patient post-op." Regina said. "I was just on my way out."

Since they were little Zelena and Regina had always been competitive with each other to the point where their relationship had always been difficult. Working together had not help mend their relationship but when Regina lost her husband, Zelena figured it was due time to put old rivalries aside.

"You know we have inters for that, right?" Zelena asked as she started to change out of her dirty scrubs.

"The inters are morons. Most of them anyway…" Regina said as she checked in the mirror that her hair was perfectly set. "Speaking of which…what do you know about Dr. Swan?"

"Which one is that?" Zelena asked. "Most of them are going to crash and burn anyway so I'm not bothering to learn any of their names."

"The blond with the blue green eyes." Regina answered. "She's tall-ish with a very athletic body."

"Of course, Dr. Swan with the blue green eyes." Zelena said with a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. "I don't know much about her to be honest. I've only had her once on my rotation and if memory serves she was quite adequate. I don't know if she's single though. Sorry."

"I didn't ask you." Regina said rolling her eyes.

"I figured it was implied." Zelena said as she finished changing her clothes. "I think I heard a rumor about the blond intern sleeping with most of the nurse staff. I don't know for certain, I can't keep up with horny interns."

"She's very skilled, surprisingly so." Regina said thinking back at how well the young intern had held her own in the OR.

"Really? Well color me surprised." Zelena said sporting a huge grin. "I didn't think you would go for it. I know you swing both ways but I never thought you would go for an intern. I guess Dr. Swan is as good as advertised. Good for you, Regina."

Regina couldn't help but scoff at her sister's accusation. "Please, I would never in a million years sleep with someone like Dr. Swan. I was merely referring to her skills in the operating room."

"Why not?" Zelena asked genuinely curious.

"For started its against hospital rules." Regina argued.

Now it was Zelena's turn to scoff. "That has never stopped me before."

"That's because you are completely without shame." Regina said.

"That's true." Zelena nodded. "But right now I'm about to meet the most gorgeous radiologist whom I probably will end up riding like a pony later tonight. It'll do you some good to take a walk on the wild side, to not be so stuck up all the time."

Regina gave a small laugh to her sister's statement. "Have fun. I on the other side, will have dinner with the most handsome fourth grader." She said as she picked up the purse that was resting on the top of the table before she turned to leave the room.

"Give Henry my love." Zelena called after her.

"Will do." Regina called back.


	2. Chapter 2

The interns were getting ready for their shift in the locker room, when Dr. Belle French entered, the room fell silent. People respected Belle, interns, residents and attendings alike. Belle was a good doctor and to her interns she was a good mentor, her work in the OR and her gentle nature gained her the appreciation of most of the hospital staff, even Dr. Gold who almost never had anything good to say about anyone.

"Lucas, you're in peds today with Blanchard." Belle called in front of the whole group of interns giving them their assignments for the day.

Ruby raised a small fist in sign of victory.

"Jones, you're in the pit with Nolan today." French said. "Please try not to maim anyone this time around."

Soft snickers could be heard around the room. The last time Killian had been in the pit a guy came in with his face split open and he managed to make a bad situation worse that ended with David Nolan swearing Jones would never touch one of his patients ever again.

"Wu, today you are in neuro with Dr. Nolan." Belle called almost bored with the morning routine. "That is Kathryn Nolan, obviously."

"Swan, you're with Mills today." Belle continued. "Must have done something right yesterday, the Queen requested you herself."

Emma looked very pleased with herself.

"Midas is still out with the full which means you lucky interns need to check on his post-up patients." Belle said as started to leave the locker room.

"Uh, Dr. French." Neal Cassidy called after her. "You haven't assigned me to an attending."

"I thought it was obvious." Belle said with a smirk. "Today you are the luckiest one of all. You get to shadow the Chief himself."

The only way to properly describe the look on Neal's face was that of 'oh shit'.

"You're screwed, dude." Ruby said once French was out of the room.

"Shut up." Neal said bitterly.

"Well while you play nurse today, the rest of us surgeons have some doctoring to do." Emma said putting her stethoscope in the right pocket of her lab coat. "See you at lunch."

"Good luck, bud. You're going to need it." Mulan said patting Neal's shoulder.

"If you survive today drinks are on me at the Rabbit Hole." Killian said sympathetically.

"I'd love to stay and watch this beautiful bromance unravel but I got a liver transplant to get to." Ruby said. "Have a great day!"

* * *

"You're late." Regina said greeting Emma as she handled her a tower of charts.

"I'm sorry, I had to check on Dr. Midas patients." Emma said "He's still…"

Her words were interrupted when Regina raised a hand, without words instructing her to stop talking. "I'm not interested. Do those," she said gesturing to the pile of charts that were currently occupying Emma's hands. "but first check on my post-ups. Oh and you also need to prep the patient on bed twelve for surgery."

"You got it, Dr. Mills." Emma said trying to keep a positive attitude.

"What are you doing standing here still?" Regina asked. "Go. You have work to do."

Emma rushed to get out of Regina's way in order to get her work done. If Emma had any hopes of scrubbing into a surgery today she needed to not piss off Dr. Mills any further.

After she finished doing rounds on Regina's post ops, she decided to prepare the patient that was to have surgery in a few hours and after that she would finish doing all of the charts. Emma had a game plan for the day and she was sticking to it.

"Good morning, Mr. Ponti." Emma said with a smile. She took a look at the patient's chart. Sixty year old male with Carotid Artery Disease. This should be an easy fix. "How are you feeling today?"

"Please call me Edgar." He said. "Am I going into surgery now? Could we wait for my daughter to get here? She's so nervous. I've told her Dr. Mills is one of the best but she still worries. Every since her mom left us, all we have is each other. I'm sure you can imagine."

"I can." Emma said. "Dr. Mills can probably do this procedure with her eyes closed. I'm here to prepare you for surgery but if you promise not to tell we can stall a little until your daughter gets here."

"Thank you, doctor." Edgar said letting out a breath of relief. "Do you really think I have nothing to worry about?"

"Every time anyone goes under anesthesia there's a risk, it doesn't matter how small or big the procedure is." Emma said. "But I can assure you that you're going to have the best people working on you making sure everything runs smoothly."

"I can't die." Edgar said tears starting to fill his eyes. "I can't leave my daughter all alone."

"You won't leave your daughter alone, Edgar." Emma said. "You're going to be back on your feet before you even know it."

* * *

When lunch time came around Emma, Ruby and Mulan shared a table in the middle of the cafeteria. Emma was still doing Regina's charts, Ruby was reading up on her up coming surgery and Mulan was getting a head start studying for the intern exam. They were eating in silence when Killian sat down on the table with a loud thud looking like he could start crying at any minute.

"You okay?" Emma asked barely looking up from the papers in front of her. "Because you look like shit."

"The pit is the most horrible place in this god forsaken hospital." Killian said. "Nolan hates me, so far I've been vomited on twice and seen things a man cannot ever unsee."

Emma gave a small chuckle.

"Serves you right." Ruby said.

"How come?" Killian said. "I've done nothing to deserve this."

"I don't know," Ruby said with a shrug. "I just don't like you."

Neal approached the table, sat down and stole the apple from Emma's tray. He also looked like he was having a terrible day. Which was understandable when you take into consideration that he had to spend most of his day in close contact with Dr. Gold.

"What's got your panties in a bunch?" Mulan asked.

"Gold is an asshole." Neal said.

"Here, here." Emma said rising her plastic cup of soda.

A persistent beeping ripped through the cafeteria causing everyone to franticly look at their pagers.

"Not it." Ruby said with a sigh of relief.

"Me neither." Emma said internally thanking her lucky stars.

"Nope." Killian said.

"Shit." Mulan said as she stated sprinting out of the cafeteria.

A second later another beeping rang through the room and everyone once again checked their pagers as if it was second nature to them.

"It's me." Emma said putting down her soda.

"The Evil Queen summoning you?" Neal asked.

"Yeah." Emma said standing from the table and taking her charts with her. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck, babe." Ruby called after her.

At Ruby's words Neal rolled his eyes and shared a knowing look with Killian. This was not lost on Ruby and for a second she debated with herself whether if she should ask or not. Curiosity eating at her she decided to go for it.

"What was that?" She said gesturing between Neal and Killian.

"You're so in love with her, its pathetic." Neal said with some disgust laced between his words.

"Am not." Ruby said her cheeks starting to blush.

Killian patted Ruby's hand with his own. "Its okay. The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem."

"You're assholes." Ruby said as she stood up to leave. "Both of you."

Neal and Killian looked at each other and shrugged. Everyone knew Ruby had a school crush on Emma since their first day. Killian suspected Emma knew about Ruby's feelings but never mentioned it because she didn't feel the same way. To a certain degree he understood what it felt to have feelings for someone but not being able to act on them because you were stuck in the proverbial friend zone.

* * *

Emma and Regina were scrubbing into surgery side by side. Regina looked at Emma out of the corner of her eyes and remembered the conversation she had with her sister about the young intern being as good as advertised. She would deny it if anyone asked but Dr. Swan caused her curiosity. She knew the hospital grapevine was ripe with gossip so she spent a good part of her day asking nonchalantly about Emma but her efforts were futile. It seemed like people around the hospital really liked her but no one seemed to know much about her.

"Twice in less than twenty four hours." Emma said bringing Regina out of her thoughts. "Has to be some sort of record, right?"

"Excuse me?" Regina asked confused not knowing what on Earth the woman next to her was blabbering on about.

"The times we've scrubbed in together." Emma explained. "Before yesterday I had never been in the OR with you. That's why I'm saying that this is a record."

"You don't have to talk to me as if I were a slow child." Regina said playing up her annoyance. "I'm well aware who gets into my OR and who doesn't."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it." Emma said regretting opening up her mouth in the first place. "I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Please don't." Regina snapped.

Emma stopped making attempts at conversation with Regina. She didn't even know why she even bothered, they didn't called Dr. Mills The Evil Queen because she was all sunshine and rainbows. It was a borderline miracle that Regina had even let an intern touch a patient let alone scrub in twice in less than twenty four hours.

"Ten blade." Regina ordered before a nurse passed her the instrument.

Regina was taking more time than usual to actually operate on the patient. It was clear to Emma that Edgar's heart was in worse shape than they initially thought but still she expected Regina to do something other than blankly stare at the exposed heart in front of them.

"Close him up, Dr. Swan, we're done here." Regina said as she stepped away from the table.

It took a moment for Emma to comprehend Regina's words. "He's going to die if you don't operate on him."

"He's going to die if tonight if I do." Regina said. "We can't save them all, doctor."

"So that's it you're just giving up?" Emma asked baffled.

"Like I said, we're done here." Regina gave her a pointed look as she removed her surgical gloves. "I hear there's a liver transplant going on in OR two, if you hurry up you might catch it."

Emma promised Edgar they would do everything in their hands to save him. She couldn't believe Regina was giving up so easily. "You can't just walk away and leave him to die. He's a person. He has a daughter that's expecting us to save her father."

"Dr. Swan, there is nothing for us to do." Regina said letting out a breath of frustration. "Look at that heart, its too weak."

"There has to be something we could do." Emma said almost pleading.

"There's not." Regina said. "Close him up, while I go update his daughter."

* * *

Regina was a woman of strong convictions. She was decisive and sure of herself, she almost never second guessed her decisions. Today was no different. She did everything within her reach to save that patient but his heart was too far gone. Why couldn't Emma see that? She wasn't this horrible, cold hearted person everyone made her out to be.

"Dr. Swan." Regina greeted when the elevator doors opened and the young intern stepped in.

"Dr. Mills." Emma said.

Regina looked at Emma's reflection mirrored on the doors. Emma was certainly physically appealing but that was not all of it. Regina recognized in her a drive different from everyone else, a particular need to prove herself. Regina thought how easy it would be to stop the elevator right now and push her against the wall. She found herself staring at Emma's lips fantasizing about how they would feel against hers.

"Is there something I can help you with, Dr. Mills?" Emma asked weary.

"What? No." Regina said silently curing herself. "I thought you might be interested in knowing that I updated the patients daughter. I referred him to a cardiologist that might be able to treat him."

"Thank you." Emma said. "I was just about to ask you."

Regina decided to take the plunge and stop the elevator. Here was the only place in the whole hospital where they might be able to have a conversation without being overheard.

"I made the right call today." Regina said. "There was no way I, or anyone else for that matter, could've perfumed that procedure successfully. You'll soon find that surgery is not always about cutting, sometimes is about knowing when its in your patients best interest not to do so."

Emma just nodded in response.

"Do you understand what I'm trying to teach you?" Regina asked mildly annoyed.

"Yeah." Emma said. "But still I can't help but feel…"

"Useless?" Regina asked. "Many times that feeling comes with the job." She said before she pressed for the elevator doors to open.

Regina started to walk out when Emma put her hand between the doors to stop them from closing completely.

"Dr. Mills." Emma called after her. "I know you made the right call. Thank you for the opportunity."

Regina was taken aback for an instant, instead of words what came out of her was a small smile that she saw mirrored on Emma's face as the elevator doors closed between them.


End file.
